One of my
regular themes has been about the need to ensure that the legal profession
represents the whole of society. In years gone by the Law was a career for the
wealthy. There is a real risk that we could go back to those dark days –
There are
many reasons why those from lower income families might be deterred. Who would
want to run up eye watering levels of debt and have no guarantee of a job at
the end of it all? The Legal Profession is under greater political pressure
than at any time that I can remember.
Legal writer
Catherine Baksi has reported in the Guardian about initiatives taken by some of
the county’s largest firms to address this problem –
It is encouraging
to read of the actions taken by these mega firms to ensure that the best
students are attracted to the law regardless of their background. She also
refers to the work done by the PRIME initiative offered by a group of firms. These
projects are certainly good news and hopefully more firms will follow suit.
But these
schemes cannot address the whole problem. There are few firms who have the
resources to run their own programmes. They are also likely to draw students to
a certain sector of the profession – the sector in which firms like Linklaters
and Norton Rose do business. There is no harm in that. But there is still the
problem of drawing talented students into other areas of law, particularly those
affecting the most vulnerable –
We need to
see action taken to attract those lawyers who see a career in the law as a
calling to fight for justice. There is a limit on what the legal profession can
do. I suspect that we will see increased numbers opting for apprentiships
rather than formal legal qualification. There will also be more students aiming
for Legal Executive status especially following the grant of the Charter to
CILEX. But there will still be those who want to become a Solicitor or
Barrister and it will be a shame if that door is closed to those who are not
rich or do not want to work in the City of London.
No comments:
Post a Comment